The Biggest Factor!

​The Biggest Factor In Your Weight Loss

When it comes to weight/fat loss, it comes down to one thing; the food you eat. It’s not your genetics, your age, gender or your exercise program. Facing the reality you are not losing weight because of the way you eat is a tough self-talk, but it is necessary. With food and fat loss, there are a few variables you must think about. I have detailed below, in order of importance.

Quality

This is where you need to start. The quality of the food you eat will have the biggest impact on your body composition (fat/lean muscle). You do not need to be perfect. This is not the answer. What you need to do is observe where your food quality intake is now, then start to increase the higher quality foods.

This does not mean going from eating junk straight to organic. It can be much easier than this. Say you stop off at a garage and grab a sandwich for lunch. Start with taking a salad and add lots of your favs on it (cheese, bacon and yes salad cream/Caesar!) This again is not perfect, but let’s start here. We are moving in the right direction. Towards higher quality. You need to move slowly as you look to improve the quality of food, don’t sprint.

As you increase quality and get quantity under control, body fat will start to drop and lean tissue will appear. You will also have more energy and feel better.

Quantity

The amount of food you eat matters, good or bad. The amount of food you eat will have the biggest impact on your overall weight loss, but not necessarily your body composition. I am not into counting calories or measuring your food forever but you may need to do this initially so you start to get a grasp on portion control. Try this, use your hand as a guide. A fist full of veggies is one serving, a palm of protein dense food, a thumb of healthy fat and a cup of carb dense food is a serving. The servings you will need is very much individual. This is where a log is useful. Record what you eat daily. Your body type and activity level will have a strong impact on determining your macronutrient breakdown.

In short, if you are heavier and have less muscle, eat more healthy fat and protein. If you have low body fat and less muscle, eat more carbs and a mix of fat and protein. If you have an even balance between fat and muscle, eat a mix of all three macronutrients. The fastest way top lose weight is to reduce your quantity.

Macronutrient Breakdown

(Protein, Carbohydrates, Fats) – I speak about these above. You need to eat all three macros. You can’t neglect any of them. You need amino acids from beef, eggs, fish, beans, quinoa and more. You need essential fatty acids from nuts, seeds, olive oil, fatty fish, avocados and more. You need fibre and carbs from veggies, grains, potatoes and yes, fruit.

Nutrient Deficiencies

To lose fat, build muscle and staying healthy, you need to reduce nutritional deficiencies as much as possible. You will never be perfect, but you can narrow the gap quite a bit with these strategies:

To improve hydration and overall health, drink more water.

To reduce vitamin and mineral deficiencies, eat more veggies and fruit.

To reduce protein deficiency, eat more foods rich in protein and consider a supplement.

To reduce essential fatty acid deficiencies, take a supplement such as a fish oil.